The Mac at 30 (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of SJ introducing the original Mac. Brace yourself for the impending rush of journalism.
http://www.macworld.com/article/2090829/apple-executives-on-the-mac-at-30-the-mac-keeps-going-forever.html

Obviously I do not expect a 30th anniversary edition Mac =)

 

[Sam Posten]

This x1000

Of course, the success of the iPhone and iPad has also led to speculation that the Mac is on a collision course with iOS, one that will inevitably merge the two into one single Apple interface for all its devices. The appointment of Federighi as the leader of all of Apple’s software efforts could have been seen as a sign of that merger, but Federighi himself is adamant that the Mac will always be true to itself.

“The reason OS X has a different interface than iOS isn’t because one came after the other or because this one’s old and this one’s new,” Federighi said. Instead, it’s because using a mouse and keyboard just isn’t the same as tapping with your finger. “This device,” Federighi said, pointing at a MacBook Air screen, “has been honed over 30 years to be optimal” for keyboards and mice. Schiller and Federighi both made clear that Apple believes that competitors who try to attach a touchscreen onto a PC or a clamshell keyboard onto a tablet are barking up the wrong tree.

“It’s obvious and easy enough to slap a touchscreen on a piece of hardware, but is that a good experience?” Federighi said. “We believe, no.”
“We don’t waste time thinking, ‘But it should be one [interface!]’ How do you make these [operating systems] merge together?’ What a waste of energy that would be,” Schiller said. But he added that the company definitely tries to smooth out bumps in the road that make it difficult for its customers to switch between a Mac and an iOS device. For example, making sure its messaging and calendaring apps have the same name on both OS X and iOS.

“To say [OS X and iOS] should be the same, independent of their purpose? Let’s just converge, for the sake of convergence? [It’s] absolutely a non-goal,” Federighi said. “You don’t want to say the Mac became less good at being a Mac because someone tried to turn it into iOS. At the same time, you don’t want to feel like iOS was designed by [one] company and Mac was designed by [a different] company, and they’re different for reasons of lack of common vision. We have a common sense of aesthetics, a common set of principles that drive us, and we’re building the best products we can for their unique purposes. So you’ll see them be the same where that makes sense, and you’ll see them be different in those things that are critical to their essence.”

What’s clear when you talk to Apple’s executives is that the company believes that people don’t have to choose between a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone. Instead, Apple believes that every one of its products has particular strengths for particular tasks, and that people should be able to switch among them with ease. This is why the Mac is still relevant, 30 years on—because sometimes a device with a keyboard and a trackpad is the best tool for the job.

“It’s not an either/or,” Schiller said. “It’s a world where you’re going to have a phone, a tablet, a computer, you don’t have to choose. And so what’s more important is how you seamlessly move between them all … it’s not like this is a laptop person and that’s a tablet person. It doesn’t have to be that way.”
When I walked into Apple’s offices for my conversation with the three executives, they noticed that I had brought a phone, tablet, and laptop, and had ultimately selected my MacBook Air as my tool of choice for the interview. (To write about the 30th anniversary of the Mac on an iPad would have felt like a betrayal.)

“You had a bunch of tools,” Federighi said, pointing at my bag. “And you pulled out the one that felt right for the job that you were doing. It wasn’t because it had more computing power … you pulled it out because it was the most natural device to accomplish a task.” Sometimes you want a large display, with many different windows open, and sometimes you just want to lay back on the couch or are standing at the bus stop. “There’s a natural form factor that drives the optimal experience for each of those things. And I think what we are focused on is delivering the tailored, optimal experience for those kinds of ways that you work, without trying to take a one-size-fits-all solution to it.”

 

[Sam Posten]

TV blitz:http://9to5mac.com/2014/01/23/abc-to-air-interview-with-apple-ceo-tim-cook-about-the-macs-30th-anniversary-tomorrow/

 

[Sam Posten]

Holy crap, I did NOT see Apple making this big a deal of the 30.
http://www.apple.com/30-years/

I remember Jobs being asked about 25 and he said something like "Let the past be the past, we are working on the future".

 

[Ted Todorov]

My personal 30th anniversary is March 3rd: that's when I got my first computer a 128K Mac in 1984. I have been a Mac user ever since.

 

[Sam Posten]

Nice, mine was a white plastibook and a 20" iMac.

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/01/macintosh-30th-anniversary/

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-birth-of-the-mac-rolling-stones-1984-feature-on-steve-jobs-and-his-whiz-kids-20111006?print=true



http://www.macstories.net/stories/this-is-my-mac30/
http://www.macstories.net/stories/my-first-mac/
http://www.macstories.net/stories/heres-to-another-five-years/

http://www.imore.com/happy-birthday-macintosh-0

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/01/macintosh-30th-anniversary/

http://www.tedlandau.com/slantedviewpoint/index.php/archives/2014/1322

 

[Sam Posten]

Word to the mothership. From @gruber:

When people play the “Apple wouldn’t have done this if Steve Jobs were still in charge” card, they generally do so in the sense of, Apple has done something I don’t like and/or which I perceive to be a mistake. I use this card rarely, but I’m going to play it now, but in the sense of, Steve Jobs seemed almost averse to celebrating past accomplishments, and in general that served Apple well, keeping the company’s focus always on the future, not the past, but this, this is a milestone worth celebrating.

 

[Sam Posten]

iFixit teardown.
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Macintosh+128K+Teardown/21422

Original review:
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/24/science/personal-computers-hardware-review-apple-weighs-in-with-macintosh.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=SC_PCH_20140124&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000

 

[Walter Kittel]

My first Mac was the original model with 512K (Fat Mac) in the fall of '84 or the spring of '85. Several of my all time favorite games were played on that system including Dark Castle and The Fool's Errand. The Fool's Errand in particular was like nothing else I had played at the time.

- Walter.

 

[DaveF]

My favorite Mac was the original NeXT Cube

 

[Ted Todorov]

My favorite Mac was the original NeXT Cube

Hard to argue with that -- I see the new Mac Pro as its direct descendant.

 

[Sam Posten]

Pure awesome:http://bitsplitting.org/2014/01/24/cant-take-that-away/

 

[Sam Posten]

Abc interview:http://www.tuaw.com/2014/01/25/tim-cook-gives-exclusive-interview-to-abc-news-and-other-news-fr/

 

[Sam Posten]

What a find!!!
http://www.tuaw.com/2014/01/27/never-before-seen-video-of-steve-jobs-and-the-original-mac-team/?ncid=rss_truncated&%3Fncid=tw

 

[Sam Posten]

Hope videos of this get posted!http://www.macrumors.com/2014/01/26/mac-team-30th-anniversary-party/?utm_content=bufferc1a80&utm_medium=social&utm_source=plus.google.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[DaveF]

Hard to argue with that -- I see the new Mac Pro as its direct descendant.

My college bought into NeXT year after release. I had the good pleasure to work as a summer student developer for physics simulator apps several summers. That was an amazing computer, a decade ahead of everything else. I wish I could resurrect my code, since it would likely compile on an OS X machine. That would be fun.

 

[Ejanss]

I remember everyone in college having to be responsible for carrying their own 3.5" disk, just to use the couple dozen or so '88 "lunchbox" Macs in the computer room. Oh, I had my own typewriter, of course, but it was nothing compared to carrying all your school essays and homework around in your pocket.

And everyone makes a big deal over the Super Bowl Ad just for being really cool and decade-iconic, but stop to think--Jobs sort of had a hunch, but Apple never realized just how prophetic they were in saying that the Mac would be "The reason why 1984 won't be like '1984'."
(Ie., computing was in the people's hands, not the state's, and now everybody owned the information.)
Like the Mac vs. PC ads, that's pretty complicated stuff boiled down to 30-60 entertaining seconds of explanation.

 

[Sam Posten]

Beautiful.

http://9to5mac.com/2014/02/03/apple-continues-mac-anniversary-celebrations-with-movie-shot-on-iphones-edited-on-macs/

 

[Sam Posten]

WOW. Must read before you just blow off that as another ad.
http://www.apple.com/30-years/1-24-14-film/#video-1242014-film

 

[Sam Posten]

Behind the scenes:http://www.cultofmac.com/264951/apples-new-mac-video-won-super-bowl-ad-contest-without-even-trying/